Misty Smoke
by Parachutingkitten
Summary: A young Ray and Maya fall in love over the course of storms, sun, peace, and war.
1. Chapter 1

It rained. Poured rain. Hadn't stopped raining. Wouldn't stop raining. It comforted some. It scared others. We could hear it all around us. Surrounding us. Kept out only by the thin walls we hid behind. It didn't really matter at this point, did it? We had all been caught in the storm. We were all wet anyway. Water covered every part of my body. It was stuck in my hair, dripped down my arms, clung to my clothing. Water doesn't leave you. Not easily. I know that now. There were a good number of people under such a small roof. Too many to be as quiet as it was. Everyone in the room had lost most everything. The serpentine had burned down most of the village.

I hadn't been able to control it.

But I was used to that by now. No one would have been able to. It had become a pattern. This war was never going to end. We didn't stand a chance anymore. Everyone was going to die. There wasn't much left for me to hold on to. I almost felt guilty. Everyone else had lost so much. Hell, I had too. There was a lot to mourn over and get angry about and feel hopeless for, but none of that mattered. Not to me.

And I'm not exactly sure why.

I felt small hands grasp my arm. My eyes looked to the motion to see a young girl looking up at me. She wore a single braid in her hair, stray hairs poking out from every edge of it, sticking to her face and hanging to the earth from the weight of the rain. She looked up at me with a hopeful smile.

"Thank you for helping us Mr. fire man," She whispered.

I gathered my strength to smile back down at her. A fake smile, but a meaningful one. At least maybe to her. "That's what I'm here for. You're going to be just fine, okay?"

She nodded and hugged my arm for a moment before moving past me to what looked to be her mother. As my eyes began drifting back towards the ground, they were caught by another pair, looking directly into mine. Maya.

My eyes instead decided to rest on her. The corner of her mouth perked up to the side. This time, my lips moved up naturally. A real smile. Both our smiles soon faded, but our eyes remained connected. I studied her face. The tan hue of her skin, the dark shine of her hair, the way her eyes shimmered like dew drops. The way the water lingered on her skin, smoothed her hair, decorated her lips… her lips. How had my eyes made it to her lips?

Her figure stood and walked towards me, her body soon sitting next to mine. We sat in silence for a moment. Neither of us knew what to say. In a way, there was nothing really to say, and at the same time, too much to put into words. A need grew inside me to say something. Speak to her. Anything. You tell her everything, you've known her for years now, why is it suddenly so hard to think of anything?

She sighed. "You want to find a place we can talk… in private?" Her head turned to face me, waiting for my response. Waiting for me to speak.

I looked back at her. "I don't think we're going to find somewhere in here to be alone."

Her eyes still stared into mine. Constant. "I don't mind getting wet." We shared our gaze for another moment before she stood, extending a hand down to me. I stared at it for a moment, before accepting her offer, and joining her as we walked outside.

As I stepped out from under the roof, a wave of droplets hit me, drenching what of me had managed to dry off inside. Maya had already walked out to the balcony that stretched out over the hill the building was on. I gazed at her figure resting on the railing for a moment before moving to join her.

"Well, it's a bit humid."

She smiled. "It's also still warm."

"Well, most everything was on fire until recently."

"Ray," She looked at me, intensely. "It's okay." She gripped my hand gently. "It's not your fault. No one could handle something that big."

I hung my head and closed my eyes. "Yeah. I know. That's not really what's bothering me."

"Something's bothering you though." She let go of me, as my hands suddenly felt… empty.

"That's the thing. I don't know what is." I lifted my head again to see her staring over the edge, into the trees. "…What's bothering _you_?"

Her lips quivered as she began to speak. "Everything." The strain in her voice scared me. It filled me with an empathy I can't begin to understand. I gently placed my arms around her, turning her to face me, one of my hands cradling her cheek.

"Hey, hey, hey," I hushed her. "You don't need to cry."

Her eyes avoided mine as she spoke. "It's just… what happens next? What can we possibly do? I'm sick of watching lives be ruined, and families be cut in half. I'm sick of watching people die." At this point, a thick mixture of tears and rain sat on her skin. I desperately wanted to embrace her. Hold her in my arms, close to my chest, tell her everything would be fine. Tell her I would protect her. Tell her everything would be worth it. But I couldn't. Because that would be a lie.

I bit my lip, my hands sliding down her arms before letting go of her. "Yeah. But I don't think there's any way we can stop it."

Her hands quickly grabbed mine again, her body shaking, her fingers trembling in my own. "Ray… I'm scared."

I could feel tears forming in my own eyes. "I know."

"Even if we somehow defeat the serpentine, even if we're somehow alive after all of this… What do we have left?"

The answer hung on my lips for a moment, but words can be hard to find. Even just one word. One word that could change everything. One word that made me feel more vulnerable than anything else in the world. One word to admit something I didn't want to admit to myself, nonetheless her.

Just one word.

"…Us."


	2. Chapter 2

My heart beat, quickly, my fingers trembling. I had to do something. Anything. I had the power to do it, but I was hesitant. What if I messed up? What if they blamed me? What if they thought… I was a freak? The heat from the fire in front of me pressed on my face, it almost burned, but I couldn't move. I was frozen. I had come all this way, and I couldn't even bring myself to move from the middle of the calamity I stood in the middle of.

My eyes caught hold of another figure frozen in the face of the flames. He stood in the middle of them, his eyes filled with an amount of fear I couldn't match. If I didn't do something soon, he would die. He should have been dead already. But maybe fate was giving me a chance to do something.

The answer was simple. The town lay around a lake. I should have moved without, but I hesitated. Why did I hesitate? I took a deep breath, clenching my fists, visualizing in my mind taking the water into my hands, grasping it, and then… I threw it. I threw a lake over a burning building. I closed my eyes as the wave fell over my head. I kept them closed. Even after I felt wind touch my skin, and cheers start around me, I feared to open my eyes up to reality. But then a thought crossed me. The man in the building.

My eyes shot open as I rushed towards the building expecting to find an unconscious body that needed to be rushed to a hospital or treated on the spot, covered in burns and barely breathing. But no. As I reached him, he sat up, coughing vigorously, his dark brown hair ruffled and nothing but some ash scattered on his skin. How could this be possible? He should have been dead unless he was somehow immune, but, the only way that could be was if…

"You started this?" I asked, his eyes tracing my body as our eyes met, his filling with panic.

"I didn't mean to, I promise."

"You have powers?" I pushed.

"Well…" he hesitated. "That depends on who's asking." I lifted my hand, summoning a sphere of water to my side, as he marveled. "You have powers too."

I quickly sent the sphere into his face. "Yeah, I do, and I just cleaned up your mess for you."

He wiped the residual water from his eyes and glared up at me. "Okay, hold on-"

"What? You have an explanation? Is there any reason you shouldn't be in jail?" I glared down at him.

"Geez, you're going to judge me that quickly?"

"You think I'm going to side with you just because we both have powers?"

He fell silent for a moment. "Well… Yeah, kinda." I formed another sphere before he quickly tried to backtrack. "Look, I lost control! This is all relatively new to me, you must know what that feels like."

I held my ground for a moment. I looked into his eyes. He was being honest. Those hazel orbs couldn't lie. Not if they tried. There was something about them that captivated me. A pureness in them that I couldn't shake. I had felt what he was feeling, I knew how confusing and frustrating and… alienating it is. I could have looked at them for an eternity. I sighed, giving in to my emotions, and flung the orb above his head. He ducked and it hit the ground behind him.

"You missed."

"The locals won't." I extended a hand down to him. "Maya."

He looked at it for a moment before taking it and lifting himself.

"Ray," He smiled. He was about my same height. It actually hard for me to tell who was taller.

"Come on. Let's get out of here," I motioned.

"As in, both of us?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Us freaks got to stick together, right?" I shrugged.

His smile slowly grew wide. "We're going to make the most dynamic duo-"

"Don't make me regret this," I rolled my eyes.

"Come on! Think about it! Fire and water! I am the heat, and you are the ice-"

"I'm not ice. I'm water." I shook my head.

"Yeah, but like, what? Is there someone else out there shooting ice all over the place, I think that would be infringing on your element a little bit."

I chuckled. "Sure. If we ever come across an ice queen, you make sure and tell her that."

"I will!" he insisted.

"We should go." I began walking.

"You're right. Let's pop, dewdrop!"

I stopped and turned back to look at him. "…what-?"

"Nothing." His face reddened increasingly quickly.

"Okay, first of all-"

"How about we just go?"


	3. Chapter 3

We had been walking all day, and we were now watching the sun descend over the grassy hills we stood on. I could tell Maya's breathing was getting heavier. We had been on the run together for a few days now, and I could tell when she was getting tired.

"Hey, do you need to take a break? Let's just sit and watch the sunset for a while."

She was messing with her hair, lifting it off her neck as she looked off into the distance. "Yeah, that sounds nice." It had been a particularly hot day. I didn't blame her for being worn. I'm told I have a high tolerance for heat, so I wouldn't really know.

We plopped down on the grass together, her skirt flaring in the evening wind as she did. I came down just past her knees, and swam around her in large wavy bunches. The way it moved mirrored with her hair. It was kind of mesmerizing. I sat next to her, looking out at the sun.

"Do you… want me to braid your hair?" I asked.

She looked over at me with a wide smile. "You know how to braid hair?"

"I grew up with two sisters," I shrugged. "You don't' know how to braid your hair?"

"You'd be surprised some of the things I don't know how to do," she laughed. "Go for it. A braid sounds nice in this weather."

I slid behind her, taking hold of her hair, and beginning to divide it up.

"So, sisters, huh? How old are they?"

I hesitated a moment. "One three years younger, and one five years younger."

"That's so sweet!" I could hear her smile in her voice. "Are you still close?"

I hesitated again, wondering where I wanted to take the conversation. "Um… Well, they and my parents were killed when I was 14."

She paused for a moment, her head noticeably lowering. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, It's fine. I've moved past it. They caught the guy who did it. Just some lunatic who woke up one day and decided the world was four people too big."

"That's awful. I'm so sorry."

I finished my last few crosses, and tied off the end, finishing the braid. "Hey, if he didn't kill me that night, it must mean that I'm supposed to be alive still, right? I must have something left to do with my life."

Maya spun around to face me. "I think so. Destiny always has stuff figured out, so I bet you're going to do something big."

I smiled half heartedly back at her.

"You okay to keep moving? It'll get dark soon."

I glanced back at the sun edging closer to the horizon. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you?"

She sighed. "I'll be alright."

"I don't need you passing out on me"

"I'm just a little dehydrated," She stood up, insistently.

"I think that might be a bit of a problem for the girl who controls water," I mirrored her. I glanced around at the landscape, my eyes landing on a stream at the bottom of the hill a little ways away. "We're taking a detour there, and then we'll find someplace to sleep for the night." I pointed.

"Fine by me," she shrugged as we began our trek down the grass.

"So, you have any siblings?"

She shook her head. "No. I'm an only child. My mom didn't even really want kids anyway, so I'm lucky I'm even here."

"Your dad want kids, or…"

"Yeah," she sighed. "That's what I'm told anyway. He fell ill and passed away when I was six."

"That's terrible. I'm sorry." I felt guilt wash up inside me. I was trying to _change_ the topic from dead parents.

"Mom and I were… distant. I stayed with her for long as I had to, but the first time I got a chance, I left. So, here I am. Wandering around saving unsuspecting men from house fires."

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess destiny had that one figured out."

"Destiny has a lot figured out. I always kinda figured I had a reason for existing, because my dad insisted on having me, but I never really understood why until now."

"Why?"

She smiled as we arrived at the side of the stream. "This." She drew some water into the air, and held it suspended in front of her. "My dad wanted to make sure his element was passed on."

"And that's enough for you? You don't feel like just… some sort of vessel for something else?"

She began wading into the stream, not caring what got wet. "Water is a part of me. I think it's my dad's way of replacing himself. It surrounds you, and holds you, and comforts you. I feel like the water is here for me, not that I'm here for the water." She sat down in the stream, looking back at me. "You should get in, if feels really good."

I shrugged, and carefully made my way into the water, the chill being quite welcome. I hadn't realized how hot I had been. "You're right, we needed this." I sat down next to her as she stared out at the sunset. I looked at her silhouette as the sun hit the edges of her hair. This was nice. I liked this. For once in my life I didn't feel completely empty on the inside. I had someone to talk to, and an outlook on life that made me feel a little bit of hope for once.

I laid down in the stream, feeling as the flowing water pulled the heat from my body. It was quite shallow, so the water only approached my ears. Maya looked back at me with a smile.

"You should try it. It feels good." I smirked.

Without much hesitation, she laid down next to me in the water, looking up at the darkening sky. "I'm just surprised you thought of it before I did."

We sat there a moment, the water connecting us, as our breaths soon seemed to synchronize. My fingers soon found hers under the water as the grasped them firmly.

"Hey, listen. From now on… I can be your water. If you need someone to hug, or talk to, or comfort you, I'm here for you, okay?" I glanced over at her as she glanced back.

"Same here. If you need advice, or a smile, or hair to braid, I've got you covered."

"Thanks," I smiled, looking back up at the stars starting to emerge, our fingers still intertwined.


End file.
